Well, my little lady is here! She's actually a month old already, but I'm just now coming up for air and have time to do a little writing.
So, let me just warn you a minute. This is a birth story. And if you know how babies are born, you know things are about to get weird. No, no. There are no photos or explicit descriptions. Nobody needs that. But there are terms and parts of the story where sh*t gets real. I promise I'll spare you anything that will stop you from looking me in the eye the next time you see me. But there might be a cringe worthy detail or two. So read on at your own risk.
Justice Joy was born on Wednesday, November 4, at 10:58am. And it was a PERFECT birth. Perfect. Everything went so smoothly, and it was the complete opposite of what I experienced with Ezra. His was tricky, and LOOONG, and exhausting. Worth it, but tough. JJ's delivery was what I imagine every delivery should be like. Perfect, and wonderful and amazing.
It all started Monday night. In the middle of the night I woke up to a GUSH. (See? I warned you.) My water had broken and I raced to the bathroom. I woke David up to let him know and called my doctor. The on call midwife said since my contractions had not started yet, I should try to go back to bed and get some sleep. I had 12 hours before I truly needed to be in the hospital. Awesome. I laid down and tried to sleep.
I didn't sleep, by the way. Because, hello?! Baby is coming!!
In the morning I let my boss and long term sub know what was up and that I was having this baby and not coming in. David went to work because my labor had still not started.
And I waited.
All day long I waited. My doctor suggested I come into the office to verify that my water had, in fact, broken. David came too because we were sure it had and I would be admitted to the hospital. Well, turns out, my water had not broken. So what was it then? Maybe a pocket of fluid. Maybe the baby kicked my bladder and I peed. I'm pretty confident I didn't pee. I mean, I've peed my pants before (Who hasn't? Am I right?), and this was not that. But who knows. However, I was NOT in labor. Let me tell you, I was SO EXCITED to go back to work the next day and explain that to my friends and coworkers (are you sensing my sarcasm?)
One thing the midwife did, though, was check my cervix. I was dilated to a 3 and my cervix was 50% effaced. This was quite a bit of progress. So she stripped my membranes. Again - this is about as detailed as I'm going to get here. Google it, if you're curious. Or, take my word that it's just something the doctor can do that sometimes gets things moving along. It's not the most pleasant thing I've ever experienced.
By the time dinner rolled around that evening, I was having contractions pretty steadily. Unless I sat or laid down. So I stayed upright and moved as much as I could. That evening, I went for a two mile walk with a couple of my girlfriends. I was having steady contractions through the whole walk, which made it pretty uncomfortable and slow, but my friends pretended not to notice we were moving at a snail's pace.
I had contractions all night long. And they were steady and consistent. I knew I was in labor, but also knew I didn't want to go to the hospital until my contractions were for real, for real steady.
We left the house at about 1:00am. In maternity triage we learned I was now 80% effaced and dilated 6 cm. The nurse knew I wanted an epidural and asked if I was ready for it. I told her no. (Wait, what? I don't know. I was trying to impress Dave I think, who was trying to sleep in a hard plastic chair at the time. He was so impressed.)
I walked around the hospital for 30 excruciating minutes. As long as I could manage. Then I went back to triage and said I was ready for that epidural now. Then of course it takes awhile to get admitted to your room and then wait for the anesthesiologist. So that was fun. I honestly don't know how anyone would want to deliver without meds. I'm the first to admit I'm a big fat baby when it comes to pain. And both with Ezra AND Justice I had nurses tell me that redheads feel pain stronger, and bleed more than the average head of hair. So I'm going to believe that cold hard piece of fact. But for real. Labor is not to be messed with.
Once I got that epidural, I felt like a million bucks and waited for my body to dilate and be ready for baby. It was actually pretty enjoyable for Dave and I because I was progressing steadily and I was feeling good. When it was time to push, my doctor came in. It was very relaxed. I could feel Justice and knew when to push, which was an awesome experience. This is weird too - but they got out the mirror and I watched her being born. I didn't do that with Ezra, but when he was born, it was pretty intense and there were 100 neonatal nurses and specialists in the room. It was stressful and a little scary. But with Justice, it was so relaxed. My doctor so laid back and encouraging. I saw her being born and it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Our bodies are so amazing to create, grow, and deliver life into the world. It was truly a miracle and I'm so thankful I got to see it, while experiencing it.
She was born at 10:58am and our lives were forever changed! We are now a beautiful family of six. Our family is perfect. My boys absolutely adore their sister and so do we. I can't believe how fun a little girl is and she doesn't even do anything but eat and sleep yet! I'm so excited to watch her grow!
Now for a line up of adorable-ness.
